BE3 Gear Box oil

[Soton Pug]

Can someone point me in the right direction to fill the box up and how much? I had to drain it all on Saturday so not to coat myself whilst changing some suspension/steering items over on the N/S/F.

Cheers.

[hifihigh]

Hi there is a section on doing the gearbox oil in this thread.

edit: just remembered that is the 6 speed box the BE3/5 might use less oil though I'm not sure never done it myself!

Edited by hifihigh on Tuesday 27th May 14:10

[GnuBee]

If you've drained it completely i.e. used the diff drain plug to empty it then 2 litres. Fill through the breather on the top.

Other method:
If you take the NS wheel off you'll see a large bolt head on the g/box casing (right hand side as you look at it). With the car on level ground remove the bolt and fill until oil begins to drip out of the hole.

[sniff petrol]

GnuBee said:

If you've drained it completely i.e. used the diff drain plug to empty it then 2 litres. Fill through the breather on the top.

Other method:
If you take the NS wheel off you'll see a large bolt head on the g/box casing (right hand side as you look at it). With the car on level ground remove the bolt and fill until oil begins to drip out of the hole.

First method is the easiest, I had to do mine after changing to 309 GTi driveshafts the other week.

[RT106]

To be fair the second method isn't difficult and does result in the correct amount of oil being in the gearbox...

[Soton Pug]

Gear boxes are some what of the grey area to me, all i can say is that looking at the side of the box from the N/S wheel arch, i drained the oil from the lowest point which sits about 4" back from the driveshaft mount. The plug is at an angle pointing towards the rear of the car at the same level as the sub frame. I guess with the amount i spilt over my leg before i grabbed the bottles 2 litres has come out easily, 1.5 ltr bottle full, about 1/5th of another bottle and enough on the floor to do a 18" puddle. I've got to wait until the top mount assemblies arrive from pug before i put it back on the deck so will let you know how it goes. Will do the removing of bolt thing as i don't need to bust a gear box due to poor measurment on my part to add to the "Fooked bit" list!

Cheers all!!!

SP

[GnuBee]

You drained it from the diff so you can just go with the 2 litres method - it takes time to get the 2 litres in through the breather; just a warning...

[Soton Pug]

Thanks for confirming. This breather, is the Haynes Manual book of lies going to indicate this or will it tell me to fill via the washer fluid bottle?

[GnuBee]

The Haynes manual does mention it :-) It's in a tricky location and you'll need a funnel and some tubing to get the oil into it.

[Simes205]

I always fill from the side 'entry' point. Gearbox oil bottles normally come with built in 'funnels' to aid sqeezing it in.
Make sure you don't overfill, ensure that once on the jack the car is level all around. Once it's full it will trickle out nicely. (on the floor leaving a stinking mess!)

Edited by Simes205 on Friday 30th May 14:15

[Soton Pug]

Cheers guys, found the breather once i'd cleaned it up. 2 litres went in exactly with the aid of some pipe i found. That's all done, suspension back together and looks great!

SP